Peach Blossom.

"I have been a concubine for ten years, and finally a lady for ten days. In the blink of an eye, I am a concubine again..."

Two palace maids from Xianhua Palace were feeding birds under the eaves, whispering to each other.

Although Concubine Zhou could not hear the discussions of the palace maids while sitting by the window, it was impossible for her not to know what the palace maids in Xianhua Palace were thinking.

It won’t be long before the entire harem, and even the entire Jiankang City, will laugh at her.

After the Queen's visit, Tao Ye felt really uncomfortable facing Concubine Zhou again, even though Concubine Zhou had never blamed her...

She finally understood that Empress Dowager Meng did not vote against Concubine Zhou's promotion to the title of Madam. She was planning a big move!

The veto after holding it in for ten days not only made Concubine Zhou lose face, but also made Emperor Si Yu's promotion decree a joke!

The Queen Mother's move is nothing more than to prove: who is the real master of the Great Qi Kingdom!

After seeing the Queen Mother's move, Tao Ye suddenly remembered that she had expressed her motherly love for Yu'er to the Queen Mother in the identity of Mantangjiao. At that time, she thought that the Queen Mother was moved and convinced by her. Now she understood that it is impossible for a harem fighter like the Queen Mother to be moved or convinced by anyone!

Every decision the Queen Mother makes must be well thought out and must be beneficial to herself or her daughter!

Tao Ye later secretly asked Xiao Wan and found out that Queen Mother Meng and Si Yu were indeed not biological mother and son!

It is said that Empress Dowager Meng was a noble concubine of the previous emperor, and Si Yu's biological mother was Meng's maid who came with her as a dowry. However, she died of dystocia when giving birth to Si Yu, and the maid had no status until her death. So Si Yu naturally became Meng's adopted son.

Meng had only one biological child, Princess Si Yao.

Tao Ye guessed that since both the adopted son and the biological daughter grew up under Meng's wing, Si Yu must have suffered a lot from Si Yao before he became emperor, right?

Even though Si Yu is now the emperor, he still has to endure the anger of this mother and daughter. For example, the imperial edict to promote Concubine Zhou to the position of Madam has become a piece of waste paper...

When Si Yu heard the decree of Empress Dowager Meng to abolish Madam Zhou's status, he would definitely not be able to remain calm like the Empress Dowager!

He immediately decided to take Concubine Zhou to find the Queen Mother to argue.

How could Concubine Zhou dare to add fuel to the fire at this time, so she urged: "Your Majesty, please calm down. As long as I can always be by your side, I don't care about my status!"

"You don't care, but I do! If you don't go, I'll go myself!"

Si Yu went to Anshou Hall, still full of anger.

Concubine Zhou had no choice but to call Tao Ye and others and follow Si Yu.

It was as if the empress dowager had foreseen Si Yu's arrival, and she had invited Empress Shen, Concubine Zhang, and Princess Si Yao to a banquet in Anshou Hall early on, gathering together to celebrate Si Yao's recovery from a foot injury.

As soon as Si Yu entered the Anshou Palace, he saw drums and music, singing and dancing on the stage, and a sumptuous banquet and clinking glasses below the stage. The Queen Mother Meng and others all had looks of delight on their faces, which made them even more furious!

The banquet was extremely lively and the music was so loud that it drowned out the eunuch's announcement. As a result, the Empress Dowager, the Queen, Xiao Wan, Si Yao and the others did not even notice that Si Yu had come in and they continued to watch the show and drink.

Si Yu quickly walked up to the bass drum that had been idle for the time being, picked up two drumsticks, and started clacking on the drum surface. It was unknown how much strength he exerted, but the bass drum produced a deafening sound!

When the musicians and dancers heard this, they were stunned and stopped. Queen Mother Meng and others had to turn their eyes to Si Yu.

With a loud noise, the drumhead was broken and Si Yu finally lost the drumstick.

Concubine Zhou happened to rush in at this moment and was startled by the sound of the drum being hit.

The scene was already quiet.

Queen Mother Meng smiled, clapped her hands at Si Yu, and said to Si Yao, "Look, Yao'er, your brother broke the drum to celebrate your recovery. You can see how happy he is for you!"

Si Yao forced a smile. She knew that Si Yu was beating the drum just to alert everyone.

Si Yu walked up to Empress Dowager Meng and others. Empress Shen, Xiao Wan, and Si Yao all stood up and saluted. Concubine Zhou also saluted the Empress Dowager and the Empress.

Si Yu did not bow to the Queen Mother as usual, and did not even look at her. He just said, "I have decided to abolish the Queen from now on!"

Xiaowan, Taoye, Si Yao and others were a little surprised that Si Yu came all the way here not to restore Concubine Zhou's position as a lady, but to announce the dethronement of the queen in public.

Empress Shen smiled faintly, raised her head and asked, "If Your Majesty wants to abolish me, you have to give a reason, right?"

"The Queen loves to drink and is often drunk, just like an alcoholic. This is really unbecoming of a royal family! Besides, you usually act like a dancer, wearing more dance skirts than queen robes. How can you be like a Queen?"

Si Yu believes that these reasons are sufficient!

Empress Shen obviously disagreed: "Your Majesty may not have a good memory. When I was your prince's concubine, I was already like this, but you made me the queen! Now you use this as an excuse to abolish my position as queen. It is really hard to convince the public!"

Si Yu hurriedly found another excuse: "I was too young back then and didn't realize the harm of alcoholism! Later I realized that drinking too much made it difficult for you to have children. How can a woman who can't even have children be qualified to be the queen?"

Empress Shen didn't take it seriously and answered nonchalantly, "Your concubines don't drink, and they haven't given birth to any children for you!"

"You..." Si Yu was so angry that he almost slapped the queen, but he didn't do it.

Queen Mother Meng was still smiling and expressed her opinion to Si Yu: "My son, this is your fault. As the saying goes, a harmonious family is the foundation of everything. You are still nostalgic for your concubine, not to mention that the queen is your wife? How can you casually say something like "depose the queen"? "

Everyone knows that the "concubine" mentioned by the Queen Mother is none other than Concubine Zhou. But as everyone knows, Concubine Zhou married Si Yu several years earlier than Queen Shen.

"Wife?" Si Yu repeated this word, feeling a little amused: "It seems that being an emperor might not be as good as being an empress! Being born as a man might not be as good as being born as a woman!"

Empress Shen smiled lightly, and was even more arrogant than before: "Your Majesty is indeed very self-aware. If you had not been designated as the crown prince, I would not have been able to be your concubine! Therefore, no matter which of you or Prince Yongchang becomes the emperor, I will be the queen!"

At this point, Si Yu was helpless: "Yes, between me and my elder brother, no matter who becomes the emperor, my mother will still be the empress dowager, and the empress will still be the empress, so why choose me?"

Queen Mother Meng smiled and replied, "Of course it's because you are filial!"

"It's because I'm a coward!" Si Yu's eyes swept across Empress Dowager Meng and Queen Shen, and then he burst into laughter.

Tao Ye looked at Si Yu, she could feel that there was infinite sadness hidden in Si Yu's laughter.

That kind of sadness should be innate.

Without the empress dowager's approval, the emperor had no right to depose the queen, but the empress dowager did not need the emperor's consent to abolish Madam Zhou's position.

At this time, the chief eunuch Xie Cheng hurried in from outside and came to Si Yu's side: "Your Majesty, Prince Consort Wang wants to see you!"

Tao Ye was shocked: Prince Consort Wang...isn't that Wang Jing?

She squinted her eyes slightly and glanced at Si Yao, and the surprise on Si Yao's face was no less than hers!

No, it should not be called surprise, but nervousness. Si Yao was very nervous about Wang Jing's arrival!

When Si Yu was feeling upset, he casually said, "No!"

Xie Cheng had no choice but to go out.

Si Yao's tension seemed to ease a little, but Tao Ye felt a little disappointed.

After leaving the Wang family, Tao Ye never saw Wang Jing again. Although she knew that she and Wang Jing could no longer have any relationship, she couldn't help but secretly hope to meet them again.

Queen Mother Meng acted as a peacemaker again, and said to Si Yu with a smile on her face: "My son, let's not talk about the past! Today your sister finally got back on her feet, so I specially held a banquet to celebrate. Since you are here, why don't you sit down and have a drink together?"

Si Yu sneered: "I don't have the leisure time like my mother!"

Queen Mother Meng smiled at Concubine Zhou again and said, "Does Concubine Zhou have the leisure time?"

Concubine Zhou did not dare to offend the Queen Mother, so she could only smile and agree: "The princess's foot was injured because I did not take good care of her. I should toast her a glass of wine."

Queen Mother Meng smiled and nodded, and ordered her attendants: "Very good, add another table of wine and food for Concubine Zhou!"

The palace maids brought a table and a chair, placed them between Empress Shen and Zhang Xiaowan, and invited Concubine Zhou to sit down.

Si Yu looked at this and felt very angry, but he could not find any way to vent his anger.

The eunuch Xie Cheng replied to Si Yu again: "Prince Consort Wang said that he has difficulty walking, and in order to seek justice for his wife who died violently, he has run to all the government offices in the capital, but no one is willing to accept the case! In desperation, he came to file a complaint to the emperor, begging for mercy!"

"You mean, he has been seeking justice for his deceased wife recently?" Si Yu was a little surprised.

Xie Cheng replied: "The news that Prince Consort Wang was running around for his first wife's murder has spread all over the streets and alleys, and everyone in the city knows about it."

Who else could be the suspect who had the motive to kill Man Tangjiao and whom no official dared to take the case?

Si Yu knew what was going on, and he immediately smiled: "Great! Let him come in and interrogate the case here, so that it will be convenient for the princess to listen in!"

How could Si Yao tolerate such obviously targeted language?

Anyway, she had the Queen Mother's support, so she just slammed the table and shouted: "What does your Royal Brother mean by this? What does this case have to do with me?"

Before Si Yu could reply, Queen Mother Meng held Si Yao's hand and said meaningfully: "The Prince Consort is your husband, so this case is of course related to you! Since he is the plaintiff, you should also be the plaintiff!"

Si Yao didn't quite understand.

Queen Mother Meng said to Si Yu, "The prince consort has come at the right time today. I will try this case with the emperor! The empress, Concubine Zhou, and Concubine Zhang can also sit in! I really want to know who is the culprit who killed Mantangjiao."

Si Yu was also a little confused, he had always taken it for granted that the culprit who killed Mantang Jiao must be Si Yao, or the Queen Mother must have done it for him.

But now the Queen Mother also wants to be the chief judge. What does this mean?

The empress dowager ordered the remaining banquets to be removed and the geishas to be dismissed. A few chairs were moved to the main hall of Anshou Hall and Si Yu was invited to sit on the two chairs in the main seats. Empress Shen, Concubine Zhou, Zhang Xiaowan and Si Yao sat on both sides.

After they sat down, the chief eunuch Xie Chengcai shouted outside: "Summon the Prince Consort Wang to see you!"